In the distribution of different objects, it is occasionally desirable to marshal or group together a given number of objects into a so-called distribution unit. The distribution unit may be held together in different ways; for example, the grouped or marshalled objects may be shrink-film wrapped, provided with a wrapping of paper or paperboard or be held together by other means as a unit. Also as regards the manufacture of single-use disposable packages for foods, there is often a need in the art, in particular for packages of smaller volumes, to marshal or group them together into distribution units.
The single-use disposable packages may be manufactured from a paper laminate or alternatively from plastic and may have various configurations. A commonly occurring package shape is the parallelepipedic configuration. The packages are manufactured in a filling machine from a running material web, where the material web is formed into a product tube, is filled with product and severed to form individual packaging containers which are thereafter finally formed. The finished packaging containers depart from the filling machine normally on a conventional conveyor belt.
There are many ways of marshalling or grouping together a given number of objects, such as packaging containers, before they are wrapped to form a distribution unit in a special machine. The commonest method is to cause a brake or an arrest device intermittently to release a predetermined number of objects from a long row of objects. The number of objects is normally monitored by photocells or the like.
With filling machines that have constantly increasing capacity for manufacturing single use packages, the demands on the equipment or the machines that handle the packages before distribution are also increasing. The same applies to those machines that manufacture distribution units, such as shrink-film wrapped units. In order to be able to increase capacity output, it is necessary that the packages reach these machines already pre-grouped into the number desired. The apparatuses that marshal or group together the objects, i.e. the packages, must operate continuously.